☀️ Sun Position Calculator

Enter a date, time, latitude, and longitude to calculate the sun's altitude and azimuth at that instant, along with that day's golden hour and blue hour windows — handy for planning photography and shoots.

Sun Position

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GUIDE

Learn more

What are altitude and azimuth?

Altitude (elevation) is the angle of the sun above the horizon, from 0° (horizon) to 90° (directly overhead). Azimuth is the compass direction of the sun, measured clockwise from true north (0° to 360°). Both are computed using NOAA's (U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) published solar position formulas.

What are golden hour and blue hour?

Golden hour is roughly when the sun's altitude is between -4° and 6°, giving soft, warm-toned light that's prized for photography. Blue hour is when the altitude is between -6° and -4°, the brief period just after sunset or before sunrise when the sky takes on a deep blue hue. This calculator scans the sun's altitude in 1-minute steps across the day to find the morning and evening golden hour and blue hour windows.

About the UTC offset field

It defaults to your browser's UTC offset, but if the location you're calculating for is in a different time zone than you are, edit the UTC offset field for an accurate result. For example, if you enter Seoul's coordinates (UTC+9) but your browser is set to a different zone, change the offset to +9.

Frequently asked questions

What does a negative altitude mean?

A negative altitude means the sun is below the horizon — i.e. it's after sunset or before sunrise.

Why do golden hour/blue hour sometimes show as "not applicable"?

At high latitudes, depending on the season, the sun may never pass through that altitude range (staying continuously above or below the horizon, similar to midnight sun/polar night conditions), so no golden hour or blue hour window is found.

Why do I need to enter the UTC offset manually?

Coordinates alone can't determine a precise time zone, so this tool asks for the UTC offset directly instead of looking one up. It defaults to your browser's setting, but you should adjust it when calculating for a different region.